By Suzanne Hodgson
Staff Writer

Want a thrill? Try barreling down a railway at 35 miles per hour with 4,000 pounds of history under the control of your hands.
Volunteer trolley drivers at the Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport will give anyone the opportunity to be a motorman and drive the historic trolley cars along a mile and a half-long railway behind the museum.
While the experience itself may not be billed as a ride, it is a thrill to stand behind large glass windows in a trolley from 1914 with no brake pedal. But that doesn’t mean you won’t have to wait in the line.
“We still have to wait for the car to come around, typical public transportation,” said John Milton a volunteer at the museum.
Milton has been working at the trolley museum since 1989 and while he only works on the platform one day a week, he’s driven hundreds of trolleys from all over the country from the past 110 years. Just don’t ask him about the buses.
“The railcar was the start of public transportation, I’m not interested in the buses,” Milton said.
Once the rail car, built in 1914 in Dallas, came around the track to the loading area, Milton gave a brief overview of how the controls work.
“It’s all in your hands,” Milton said as he slams what appears to be a wind-up handle around in a circle. “I’ll give you 50 bucks if you break this.”
The wind-up handle accelerates the rail car. Drivers begin in first gear and slowly work their way around four gears in two positions. The car runs on 600 volts of electricity on two motors. The motors create a charged electric arch, which can be damaged easily if the handle isn’t moved steadily.
To add to the pressure, the break of the rail car is an air release, but it only needs a little air in the breaks to stop. If the railcar gets too much air, the car makes a “window stop” as Milton calls it – driver and passengers can go through the windshield.
And of course don’t forget that the car is bouncing in between the tracks like Indiana Jones’ mine car in the movie “Temple of Doom.”
It’s not all thrills at the Seashore Museum. Much of the museum is dedicated to the history of public transportation, including a new exhibit that gives the entire history of the rail cars and trolleys on the Atlantic Shoreline, the rail line that ran from Portland into New Hampshire.
More than 250 vehicles represent all forms of public transit from around the world, although the principal collection is from the United States.
Julia and John Marsh from Pennsylvania were visiting family in the area when they decided to stop by and see the trolley museum.
“I saw the old car I used to ride to school every day in one of the barns and we found a sign from my old stop,” Julia Marsh said.
The Marshes had visited the trolley museum once before, but Monday they were in for a special treat. After 36 years of restoration, a Connecticut rail car built in 1900 was brought out on the track to carry passengers for the first time at the museum.
The trolley museum is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. until Columbus Day. For more information on the trolley rides or how to be a motorman call 207-967-2800.

Staff Writer Suzanne Hodgson can be reached at 282-4337, ext. 233.